'Change' is dead

7/26/13 11:49 AM EDT

The Sunlight Foundation notes that Change.gov, the website created by the Obama transition team in 2008, ceased to exist after June 8, 2013.

Change.gov now reads: "The transition has ended and the new administration has begun," then directs readers to WhiteHouse.gov. That's reasonable enough, although it would have been equally reasonable in January 2009, when 'Change' published its last post on the transition.

Why now? Sunlight assumes the administration wanted to scrub potential liabilities, such as this promise from the administration's ethics agenda:

Protect Whistleblowers: Often the best source of information about waste, fraud, and abuse in government is an existing government employee committed to public integrity and willing to speak out. Such acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled. We need to empower federal employees as watchdogs of wrongdoing and partners in performance. Barack Obama will strengthen whistleblower laws to protect federal workers who expose waste, fraud, and abuse of authority in government. Obama will ensure that federal agencies expedite the process for reviewing whistleblower claims and whistleblowers have full access to courts and due process.

A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment regarding the reasons for pulling the site (updates here, if and when we hear back). Those interested in Obama's shifting stance on whistleblowers should check out Josh Gerstein's excellent story from April.